Apple supplier Foxconn’s iPad factory in southwest China halts production for six days amid power crunch in summer heatwave
- Foxconn is suspending operations at a factory in the city of Chengdu from August 15 to 20 under government order
- China’s Sichuan province has seen record high electricity usage as residents try to cope with the extreme heat
The Chengdu campus of Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is shutting down all production from August 15 to 20, maintaining only 20 per cent of its electricity load for security purposes, according to a report by Cls.cn, a news service backed by state-owned Shanghai United Media Group.
A Foxconn representative confirmed the report on Tuesday, adding that “the impact has been limited at the moment” and that the company’s other plants in the country are operating normally.
The power cuts are imposed on industrial users to ensure reliable power supply for residential use amid gruelling summer temperatures. But the curbs have further disrupted Foxconn’s mainland production, in addition to the impact of intermittent Covid-19 lockdowns.
The power crunch in Sichuan may affect Foxconn’s iPad assembly lines and those of Compal Electronics in nearby Chongqing municipality, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, a TF International Securities analyst.
“Although it’s difficult to assess the impact on production currently, the impact should be limited if the power outage can end on August 20,” Kuo wrote on Twitter, adding that flexible production scheduling by assemblers should help mitigate any effect.